


Only fools rush in

by IronShieldGal



Series: Light she was, and like a fairy [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: BAMF!Clem, Clouis fluff, F/M, Gardener!Louis, Louis and AJ are bros, Louis and Violet are BFFS, Louis is hella Smitten (tm), Marlon and Brody live, also, also Canon Divergence, better, episode 2 from louis's pov, explosions (because Mitch), good dad! Louis, good friend!Marlon, great leader Brody, more and alternate dialogue and choices
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-16 00:38:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17539373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronShieldGal/pseuds/IronShieldGal
Summary: So Marlon is a bit of a dick and Brody kept all his secrets, but they're both sorry and doing better now. AJ is too eager to fight for a kid that young and Louis is determined to teach the kid to love living instead of just surviving.The kid has a group now and other people to watch his mom's back, so there's room for fun now. But first, the raiders, and the plan to get rid of them.Yeah, that's not gonna go wrong at all.(episode 2, season 4, from Louis's point of view, with the inclusion of Marlon and Brody still being alive. For episode 1 check the first work in this series :D)





	1. Like a river flows surely to the sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SodiumCyanide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SodiumCyanide/gifts).



> SO when i finished playing episode 3 I decided I wanted to write for episode 2 and 3 like i did for chapter 1, so I did. 
> 
> Go read into the foamy brine if you haven't already, for the retelling of episode one.  
> This one is named after Elvis's "Can't help falling in love", title & chapter titles.
> 
> This one is gifted to SodiumCyanide because they gave me the absolute best comments on ITFB and they always made my day (even now, months later, when I think about them / reread them) so I wanted to do something back, I guess. Also because the update of their fic appearing in my mailbox reminded me that I could write more Louis because I had sorta forgotten how much I love writing Louis. 
> 
> More Clouis fluff and Louis backstory. 
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy
> 
> (for those wondering, I'm keeping the backstories I made in the previous fic over the backstory that we get in episode 3, just because it's too much of a hassle to go back and adjust it)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He’d insisted on her taking off the muddy boots if she was going to put her feet in his lap. She demanded a foot massage in return.   
>  “Why, Clem, that almost sounds like you’re planning something,” he wiggles his eyebrows at her and she softly kicks him in his chest. “Shut up, Louis,” she says, grinning.

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” His voice is a great gift to wake up to, his soothing baritone and lovely words having a calming effect in case of nightmares and causing the other person feel fuzzy and loved upon waking.

Brody does not agree, if the way she buries her face into her pillow and waves him off with her hand is any indication.

“Louis what are you doing in my room, go away” is barely audible, seeing as it’s muttered into a pillow, but the words were expected and as such easier to discern.

“Is there a rule against boys being in a girl’s room?” asks the lovely lady whose feet are currently in his lap. Clementine is spread out on the other bed, arms underneath her head and eyes closed. He’s sitting, back against the wall, legs dangling off, hands kneading socked feet.

He’d insisted on her taking off the muddy boots if she was going to put her feet in his lap. She demanded a foot massage in return.

“Why, Clem, that almost sounds like you’re planning something,” he wiggles his eyebrows at her and she softly kicks him in his chest. “Shut up, Louis,” she says, grinning.

“No rules,” Brody says, “but I don’t want any of these boys in my room. This is mine and Violet’s room and everyone else can stay out.” Brody turns her head to look at them, white bandage on her head stark against her red hair. “Speaking of, why are you guys here?”

She tries to sit up, coughs and mutters a curse of pain. “How’s the head?” Clementine asks, worry coloring her tone.

“Throbbing,” Brody says, sitting up. “What happened, all I remember is….” She falls quiet. “Marlon,” Louis helpfully adds. Brody nods. “We were arguing, Clem came to check,” she whispers. “I told her…” Clementine smiles at the redhead. “It’s all right, he knows. Everyone knows,” she says. Brody nods, her eyes far away.. “I told her what happened to Sophie and Minnie,” Brody whispers. “Marlon went to hit me, only reason I managed to duck was because you warned me, Lou,” she says. “He still hit me, but if I hadn’t it would’ve been worse, wouldn’t it?” Clementine nods. “I think you might’ve died,” she whispers.

“Fuck,” Brody breathes.

“Swear,” AJ pipes up from where he’s coloring at the desk.. Louis chuckles, but it feels wrong in the serious tone of the conversation. “Clem patched you up best she could and apparently you came to long enough to tell her she and AJ were next,” Louis tells her. “Clementine confronted Marlon outside. Everyone was there. It was very dramatic. Anyway, end result is Marlon confessed, he was allowed to stay but never be on his own and he doesn’t get to make decisions anymore. So, congrats, you’re our new leader,” he flashes her a smile, and she softly smiles back, but she looks unsure. “I don’t know,” she starts, her voice soft and quiet, and Clementine’s feet swing off his lap, out of his hands and to the ground. She leans forward, not really getting up but focusing all her attention on Brody, apparently not realising that she’s pressed up tight against Louis and she still doesn’t have a new shirt -it’s lying on the floor right there, soaked in blood, and yeah she’s still wearing her jacket but it’s a jean jacket, made to be worn over something so sometimes he catches glimpses of skin and he doesn’t mean to look, he really doesn’t but he can’t really help himself.

He looks at AJ, who is coloring, AJ who is sitting right there, AJ who would probably shoot him if he made unwelcome advances on his mom.

“Brody,” Clementine starts, her voice gravely serious but also encouraging, loving, supporting. “We are here to help you. You don’t have to do it alone, but as a group we need someone to refer to, someone to make the final decisions, someone to report to and someone to play shepherd. The group chose you to be that person because we trust you to make the right decisions, to listen to all of us and consider what we want and what’s best for the group as a whole,” Clementine says. “We have faith in you, but that doesn’t mean you have to do it alone.” Brody’s nodding shakily and Louis feels safe enough to look at her.

“Brode?” he asks her attention, and her eyes find his and her eyebrows furrow at the clear discomfort in his face. “Lou?” She asks, “what’s wrong?” He swallows and hopes he doesn’t sound like a buffoon. “Can we find Clem a new shirt? Can that be the first thing on the new agenda?” he asks. “Please?”

Clementine snorts out a laugh and Brody giggles. “Yeah, of course,” she says. “I don’t think me or Violet have any spares, neither does Ruby. Do any of the guys have an extra shirt?” And he thinks about that, and they have some extra clothes for if the kids grow bigger but nothing that would really fit Clem.

“I’ve got one,” he say,. “but it might be a bit big on you,” he glances at Clem, and she’s looking at him with amusement. “It’s fine,” she says. “I can wear it until we find something else. Brody, do you feel good enough to have an actual meeting where we can discuss things, or do you want to wait a bit?”

Brody feels her head and gets on her feet. “No, I’m good,” she says. “I would like to sit down, but it’ll be fine. We can always split up everything we have to talk about,” she says. “Louis, go get Clementine a shirt and then make everyone gather outside,” she instructs him, then she seems to falter. “Where’s Marlon?” she asks the question quietly, almost as if she’s afraid of the answer. Louis smiles.

“With Aasim,” he says. “Outside, I think.” He gets up and brushes imaginary dirt from his jeans. He catches Clem glaring at him as she bends over to put her boots back on and yeah, okay, redirecting gaze, AJ’s drawing with red now. Wonder what he’s making.

“Alright getting the shirt I’ll knock before coming in okay bye,” he almost slams the door behind him in a hurry and he’s pretty sure that if he was as white as most of the kids here he’d be blushing as red as Ruby’s hair.

 

_______________________________________________________

Has he mentioned how much he likes Clementine? Because this girl is his hero and he would worship the ground she walks on if she’d let him.

He’d tossed the shirt through a tiny gap in the door and promptly fled, followed by girlish laughter. He’d gathered everyone, told everyone to go outside and when he followed after Mitch, the last guy he’d had to collect, he saw how everyone was sitting at tables, and Marlon sat alone.

He’s walking towards the table, determined to sit next to his friend, when Clementine and AJ beat him to it, Brody following close behind. Clem and AJ sit opposite Marlon, both of them smiling at the blond, and Brody grabs Louis’s chair and sits at the head of the table.

Louis plants himself next to Marlon, making sure their shoulders touch, and he looks at Clementine. She smiles at him all-knowingly and throws in a wink, and wasn’t he supposed to be the smooth, flirty one? What the hell happened?

Brody’s looking out on all tables and everyone’s looking at her. The silence stretches and Marlon is tense next to him.

“First of all,” Brody says, her eyes sweeping over all of them and landing on Violet. “I want to say that I’m sorry for my part in what happened to Sophie and Minnie.” Everyone startles and Violet looks up in shock. “I’m sorry for not intervening, for not trying to stop it, and later for keeping it a secret for a year. It took Clem’s intervention for me to be brave enough to speak up and…” Brody swallows, but her gaze never drops. “and I’m sorry.”

Silence stretches. “I’m sorry, too,” Marlon whispers. “I… I don’t think I’ve stopped saying it since the truth came out, but I haven’t apologised to you yet. I’m sorry for doing that, I’m sorry for making you keep silent, I’m sorry for fighting you and I am so, so sorry I hit you.” Brody smiles at him kindly. “It’s all right,” she says. “I forgive you.”

Silence stretches further, and Brody coughs. “I’ve been informed you’ve elected me as your new leader, but I’ve also been informed that Clem decided it’s going to be a democracy. This means everyone gets an opinion, everyone gets a say. If you have questions of opinions, please share them. If you don’t agree with what someone else is saying, you can voice your opinion, but please don’t yell at each other and please try to keep debates objective,” she says.

AJ frowns. “What does that mean?” he asks. Brody smiles at him, a warm smile she only gives the younger kids. “It means that I want discussions to be talked about, not yelled about, and I want that people only talk about the issue. For instance, if we’re talking about who’s going hunting I want people to only talk about that, and not try to make someone’s opinion less worthy by insulting the person,” she explains. AJ nods, face serious.

“There are a few issues I’d like to talk about,” she says, “if you think there’s something we should discuss and I don’t name it, please say so and we can talk about that as well.” General nods all around. “I want to talk about what we’re going to do about the raiders. We are not, and this is not up for discussion, giving them our people in exchange for safety,” she says, voice stern, “but we do need to do something. I want to talk about eventual other changes that need to be made, and I’d like to hear suggestions on that front, first.”

Silence stretches. Louis wants to bring up the greenhouse, but he’s scared.

Omar does it for him. “What about the greenhouse?” he says. “We should get it working again -Louis was legendary growing all those plants and it’d really help!” Brody’s nodding, a frown on her face. Violet pipes up. “Getting the greenhouse in shape to grow things again is going to take some time,” she counters, “time we need to hunt for food.” Clementine shakes her head. “With the haul we had yesterday we’re good for a couple of days,” she says. “The greenhouse is a good idea and if we work on getting it ready for the next two or three days that must be enough for it to start up again,” she reasons. Violet hums and looks at Louis. “You got anything ready to grow?” she asks, and Louis nods. “I’ve got carrots and courgettes and beans and broccoli and I used to grow potatoes, I don’t have any to plant but we never took them out so there’s a chance there are still some we can use. There’s some herbs and spices that might still be salvageable,” he nods, picturing the greenhouse in his mind. “Like Clem said, if we work on it for two or three days with a big group it should work and upkeep should be possible with one or two people who work on it for a few hours every day.” Silence, but everyone is nodding in agreement.

He’s going to get his greenhouse back.

Aasim speaks up next. “I’ve seen ducks and other water birds along the river, if we place some land-based traps on the riverbank we might be able to catch some of those, too,” he says, and Brody nods. “That sounds like a great idea! We should wait with creating those traps until the greenhouse is running smoothly so Louis has time to build some, but that’s great!”

Everyone is silent for a while.

“How about keeping some of the bunnies?” Louis offers, and hurries to explain himself at the questioning looks from all sides. “We set off a patch of grass, release some of the rabbits in there instead of immediately eating them. We feed them the leftovers from the vegetables, they grow, they create more rabbits. Easier than hunting.” He shrugs, as if it isn’t a big deal, as if he still expects to not be taken seriously, but Brody is glowing. “Great idea, Louis,” she tells him.

Silence stretches and when no more new ideas seem to be forthcoming Brody sighs. “The raiders,” she says. “We obviously aren’t going to give them any people for safety, but the safe zone has been shrinking because of them, and it will continue if we don’t do something. Honestly, I don’t know what we can do.”

“Well we can start by extra guard shifts,” Violet says, “also during the night. This’ll mess up sleep schedules and means we’ll have less hunters during the day but hopefully it’s a temporary thing. Marlon, do you know how many there are?” The blond visibly startles being addressed, and Louis bumps his shoulder into his best friends. Marlon clears his throat and shakes his head, “I don’t know. At least ten. Maybe twenty, but I never saw their base.” he says. “There was only a small group in the woods here and they made it sound like their home was far away, and pretty big..” Clementine is nodding and is pulling a face that Louis will from now on refer to as her scheming face.

“We have no idea how many there are or where they are, but we have to stop them from taking people,” Clem says. “Maybe even stage a rescue for Sophie and Minerva, if they’re still there.” Silence falls. “We can stage some of us getting caught so Marlon can give those people away. That way we find the base and intel, but we wouldn’t know for sure that we could break out and come back because we know nothing about their home or their numbers. The other option is that we let them come to us -that we fortify the school and lure them here and try to take a prisoner to interrogate. It’s going to be tricky but probably safer than the other option.” Clem is looking at everyone and settling her gaze on Brody.

“I think maybe we should all think these options over,” Brody proposes, internal turmoil swirling in Louis’s stomach, not knowing what to do, “and vote on it tomorrow morning.” There’s nods and hums around the tables and Brody gets up.

“Great,” she says. “I think I’m going to lie down, my head is killing me,” Marlon flinches next to Louis but no one else notices. “Are there any volunteers for watch tonight, because then it might be best if those people go to sleep, too.”

Louis clears his throat, doesn’t think he’d be able to sleep tonight anyway. Last night was filled with nightmares of Marlon shooting Clementine, shooting AJ, of Louis stepping in between Clementine and Marlon and Marlon shooting him. Nightmares of Clementine killing Marlon the way she dispatches of walkers. Nightmares of AJ killing Marlon, not knowing what he did wrong after.

Nightmares of Louis killing Marlon, squeezing the life out of his best friend’s throat. “I’ll watch tonight,” he says. “I’m up for the entire night,” he shrugs and doesn’t look around to whomever might be joining him.

“I’ll stand guard, too,” Clementine says. “My nightmares are getting worse and I think I’ll only wake all of you up if I try to sleep the entire night,” she shrugs unapologetically, like nightmares are nothing to be ashamed of.

And after everything she’s been through, they aren’t.

“I think two will do,” Brody says, “but you can wake me if anything is wrong. Marlon, too, if you’re up for it? You’re the best with the bow and if anything happens it might be good to have a long distance weapon,” she addresses Marlon, and the blond nods. “Yeah, I’m, good, you can wake me. Yeah.” Violet hums, looking at Clementine and then Louis. “If either of you decides you want to sleep or whatever, you can wake me and I’ll take your watch,” she offers. Louis smiles at her. “Thanks,” he says.

Silence stretches. “AJ,” Clementine says, “would you like to room with anyone else? The room might be a little empty without me, and I’m sure they have room for you somewhere,” she offers. Tenn perks up. “The second bed in my room is empty!” he says, “you could sleep at mine. It’d be like a sleepover!” AJ looks at Clem, who smiles encouragingly, and the boy nods. “Okay.”

People start to get up, start leaving and going back to their tasks. It’s late in the afternoon and Louis could take a quick nap before dinner but he’s afraid, so he heads to the greenhouse instead. He’s been pulling weeds for a few minutes when a voice rings out.

“Mind if I join you?” Violet asks, and Louis shrugs. He’s left his coat behind at the door, knowing he’ll get sweaty in no time. He knows his shirt is hanging loose around him, fitting right in the shoulders and the arms but he swims in the fabric at the waist.

They’re all too skinny, but there’s nothing to be done about it.

Violet kneels at the opposite side of the room and starts pulling weeds carefully, taking the roots with them. She piles them all together, shrugging and avoiding his eyes when he looks at her questioningly. “If we get those rabbits we could feed them this,” she says. “We’re not going to eat it, but they might.”

She pretends like she doesn’t see him smile, and he pretends he can’t see the soft curling of her mouth in return.

 ____________________________________________

At dinner Louis realizes Marlon might not ever go back to who he used to be. The blond is quiet, doesn’t say anything and gives short, apologetic answers to questions he’s asked. He doesn’t look any of them in the eye and acts like he wishes he could disappear.

Louis is worried but doesn’t know how to help, how to express his concern, how to tell Marlon that if he one day wakes up to the blond’s undead form swinging from the ceiling he might actually go insane.

After dinner Violet suggests cards, and they play a different game tonight. One without questions, and as such most of the game is played in silence.

None of them know how to move on, how to handle the situation as it is, but Louis has faith that they’ll work it out, they’ll manage it together.

Violet wins the round and is unbearably smug about it. “Yeah, yeah, you only won because I wasn’t trying,” he tells her. She raises her eyebrows, daring him. “Oh yeah?” she asks. “What are we playing for this round, then?” she asks, and there’s not much to play for, not in a life like this, but Louis grins at her. “Loser owes a favor to the winner,” he declares and Marlon winces, laughing, almost like nothing ever happened because the blond knows that the winner would make it horribly embarrassing for the loser.

Clementine is looking at the both of them, apparently very amused, but doesn’t ask what happens if she wins this time. Which Louis appreciates, because of course he’s going to win. He can’t wait to make Violet do something incredibly humiliating, though he doesn’t really know what, yet.

Turns out he doesn’t have to figure it out because Clementine proceeds to kick all their asses collectively, brutally and without breaking a sweat. She smiles sweetly at all three of them, winking at Marlon before settling her gaze on Louis and Violet.

“How did you? When did you? You cheated!” he accuses her, and she shakes her head. “Nope,” she says, smug and chipper and not deadly serious at all, and she grins. “Learnt this from Kenny, he found a pack. Taught me all the games he knows. I’m better at poker because apparently I’m pretty good at bluffing,” she would be, of course she is. Girl can talk a confession out of Marlon when he’s batshit crazy about something he feels very bad about, she could literally make anyone do anything with just her words. “But this is still one of my favorites. Now, do you both owe me a favor or do I have to beat your asses again to claim those?” Clem’s not evil, right? Not as evil as Violet, surely. The girl seems to like him, and AJ definitely likes him, so owing her a favor can’t be that bad.

“It would be my pleasure to owe you a favor,” he tells her, throwing a wink at the end. The fact that she’s not flustered and Violet doesn’t glare at him for flirting should’ve warned him that he’s going to regret this.

“I suppose if Louis owes you a favor, I can do the same,” Violet admits. “Just don’t make it too crazy, okay?” Clementine nods and smiles reassuringly.  “Nothing too crazy,” she promises.

 

______________________________________________

Clem calls in Violet’s favor that night. It’s nothing humiliating of difficult or even a bother to do, but something you would ask your friends and they would of course always say yes.

Tenn and AJ are not that ecstatic to have Violet intrude on their sleepover but a stern look from Clementine quiets AJ enough for Tenn to also realise it’s to soothe Clem’s nerves and not because the older kids don’t trust them.

The sun sets and Louis and Clementine climb the wall for their watch. Louis brought an extra blanket and pillow and told Clementine to do the same, because sitting on a stone wall the entire night is not his idea of a good time.

They sit in silence for a while, not a bad, uncomfortable one, but one the likes of which Louis has never had. He’s always felt the need to fill silence with idle prattle, jokes and other things, but Clementine has settled with her back against the ridge, her booted feet planted firmly on stone and her knees bent at a comfortable angle, and kept her mouth shut.

So he sits down and finds himself sitting still after a few minutes, no sensations of eyes on him and he feels himself actually relax for once. His eyes are on the horizon, between the trees, and he doesn’t expect anything to happen but if it does he’s glad Clementine is by his side.

Because she’s a tremendous fighter, obviously, and only for that reason.

When it’s well and truly dark Clementine stars pointing out stars and tells him their names, explaining that someone named Omid had told her a few before he’d died.

Then she chuckles and looks at the stone between her feet, tracking spiderwebbing tiny cracks with her eyes. “You remind me of him,” she says. “Omid was always funny, always lighthearted. Always ready with a joke and always trying to cheer everyone up. He was optimistic and happy and making the best of life despite everything, and also working hard to transfer his happiness over to others.” She falls quiet, only the sounds of animals in the trees before them disrupting the silence.

“He sounds like he was a pretty cool dude,” he says, and she nods. “He was pretty awesome. He and Christa, his wife? Girlfriend? I don’t really know, but they joined my first group. It was cracking, Duck and Katjaa were gone, Lilly had shot Carley and we left her behind and Kenny was distraught, but Lee was trying to make the best of it. Christa was very concerned about me when she first met us, fought with Lee about me. They both thought I didn’t notice, but I did. I noticed everything, I had to. She said he wasn’t my dad, and wondered if he was the right person to take care of me. Later, I realised she was concerned for me because she was pregnant herself.” Clementine seems to enjoy talking, so he keeps quiet, his eyes ahead but his attention on her voice. “She was very different from Omid, more practical, not necessarily pessimistic but easily assuming the worst because then it could only end up better. She was very cautious, always armed, friendly but never too much, questioned every decision Lee made not to be difficult but to make sure he thought everything through,” Clementine huffs a laugh. “They worked well together,” she finally seems to decide, as if this is something she’s been pondering for a while.

He doesn’t have to ask what happened -they died. He doesn’t know how and if they died together, but these are Clem’s stories to tell and he doesn’t believe she wants him to ask questions right now.

“You could tell me more,” he says after she’s been quiet for a while. “If you want. Obviously you don’t have to, but you can tell me about all the friends you’ve made. Must be hard to be the only one left to remember them.” He doesn’t know if he’s said the right thing, but the way her warm body slides next to his, her shoulder fitting underneath his and her head finding his shoulder, the way she exhales and turns her hat around in her hands before closing her eyes and talking tells him that he must’ve.

She talks the entire night, about Lee and Kenny, and Kenny’s wife and son. She talks about Ben and Lilly and Mark and she tells about the farm they ended up on where she almost ate her friend Mark because the farmers were cannibals, and shit, she’d been eight or something. What a fucking experience to carry with you for the rest of your life.

She tells him about Lilly’s dad and how he died -locked in a meat locker, killed to prevent him from turning. Tells him about how Lilly looked at Lee differently after that.

She tells him about Ben and what he did, how Duck got bit and how Lilly shot Carley and how Lee left her behind on the side of the road. How she felt conflicted when it happened, but now she realised it was the best decision made in a shitty scenario.

Her eyes are fixed on the ground as she talks about Savannah, her walkie-talkie and the stranger. Her eyes are shut as she whispers about Lee, and how the man had asked her to not let him turn. Silence falls for a minute or so as she looks up at the stars and with a small smile resumes her tale about Christa and Omid, and her smile drops as she tells him how she lost them.

She tells him about the dog again, her fingers running over the scar. How she stitched it up and walked out of that shed in the morning, still not bitten.

She talks about Luke and Nick and Pete and Alvin and Rebecca, talks about Sarah and Sarah’s dad and spends a good ten minutes freaking out about not remembering Sarah’s dad’s name. She talks about Carver, and meeting Kenny again, and what happened to Carver and that she’d stood there and watched.

Talks more about Kenny, how the guy took her under his wing immediately, how he took the fall for stealing the radios and how his eye got beaten to shit because he was protecting her. She talks about Jane, and AJ, and then how she’d let Kenny kill Jane because she couldn’t shoot the oldest friend she had, a friend who knew who Lee was, a friend she’d shared so many losses with. She talks about how relieved she was when they found AJ again.

She talks about Wellington and Kenny teaching her many things. She skips telling how Kenny died, but Louis knows he did so protecting Clem and AJ.

Then, her voice sounding like she’s about to cry, she talks about the New Frontier, what she’d done, and how they’d taken AJ away from her. How she fought, how she got out.

She talks about Javier and Gabe and their friends and she talks about how for the first time, she was alone not because everyone in her group had died, but because she had left.

To find AJ.

The sun is rising as she talks about raising AJ, trying to be the best mom she can be, trying to teach him how to both be a good person and also be able to survive in this world.

Underneath the golden streaks of the upcoming sunlight she whispers her fears of AJ turning out different, her fears of not being good enough for him, all fears a mother of her age and situation would have.

At some point during the night he’d slung an arm around her shoulders, holding her close, and he squeezes her shoulder at this point. He’d never interrupted her before, let her talk about everything she needed to get out, but he feels like he needs to say something right now.

“You’re great with AJ, Clem,” he tells her. She’s avoiding his eyes, looking at blood splatters on her hat that she told him at the start of the night came from when Lee was bitten, how he was holding the hat when it happened because he was looking for her. “He couldn’t have wished for someone better to take care of him, and in this world? Nobody could’ve done better than how you’ve done it, but you’re not alone anymore. We’ll help, all of us. Neither you or AJ will ever be alone again.”

And as much as it should sound like an empty promise because no one will know what tomorrow brings, he means it from the depths of his heart and he knows that she hears it, too.

They sit quietly until Violet calls at them to come down, breakfast and then they’re voting on the raider situation.

Clementine untangles herself from him, plants her hat back on her head and smiles at him. “Lou?” she whispers, and he looks up at her, saying nothing but knowing she can read all his thoughts in his eyes. “Thank you.”

She extends her hand and helps him up, and the callouses on her hand tell a horrid tale of survival. He squeezes her fingers and smiles back at her. “You are absolutely welcome.”

 

_______________________________________________________ 

In the end they all collectively decide to lure the raiders here. They’re scared to send people to the raiders and this way the war is fought on home turf. The only question is how.

“Well, if we go outside the safe zone we’ll probably run into them,” Clem says. “That’s how it happened last time. If we go out and they talk to us about getting more kids, we’ll just tell them they can’t have anymore,” she shrugs. “They’ll either leave us alone or come to get us.”

And isn’t that a scary thought. That people want to kidnap them so bad they’re coming with everything they have to take them.

Brody frowns. “Okay, but who are going?”

Everyone sits and ponders this for a while.

“I’ll go,” Clem says. “It was my idea and they also haven’t seen me before. If the twins have told them about everyone they’ll know all of you and maybe your weaknesses. Nobody knows anything about me.”  

Nods all around.

“I’ll go too,” AJ states, no question in his tone. “No, you’re not,” is Clementine’s immediate reaction. AJ opens his mouth to argue, but surprisingly it’s Marlon who cuts in.

“I have to go,” he says, looking at AJ. “You’re right, Clementine shouldn’t go alone, but someone of us should go with them so they recognise us as the same people. I won’t send Brody and as far as they know, nothing changed here.” He shrugs. “And if we go with more than two it’s dangerous: they could not approach us, or, like with Minnie and Sophie, they could demand that people get to go with them immediately.” Again, nods all around and Clem leans over to whisper something to AJ.

Louis wonders what it is, and then he wonders if he should offer to go, but honestly? He’s scared, and Clem and Marlon are the best choice for this. They’ll bait the raiders and keep their heads around them. Louis would just panic, just like Aasim, and Violet would immediately go on the offensive. Brody would probably panic too, Mitch would shout profanities which would probably get everyone killed and Omar is too no-nonsense for all of this.

And the other kids are all too little.

So, Brody, Marlon and Clementine put their heads together to make a plan. Aasim and Violet weigh in with insightful comments sometimes but the rest of the kids just listen.

Louis can only think about all the ways this thing can go wrong, and how he can’t lose his best friend. If Marlon died… If Marlon died everything would change. Louis himself would change, and probably not for the better.

Still, Marlon is a good friend and a good person, despite the mistakes he’s made. Clementine is an absolute badass and the plan is solid.

He glances around the table and looks at AJ fidgeting as his mom talks battle plans with the other kids. When he catches the kids eye he winks and shoots some finger guns at him. AJ giggles and gives some finger guns back and Louis thinks about the kid’s real gun that’s in a drawer in Clem’s room somewhere since the incident with Marlon last night.

Yeah. Everything’s gonna be all right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno, I feel like some parts are a bit off but I think i just gotta get into Louis's head again. Maybe I'll come back to this later. 
> 
> first, on to the second chapter. As fast as possible. 
> 
> thanks for reading, leave a comment if you want, and I'll see you (hopefully) next chapter!


	2. Take my hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis doesn’t really know what to say to that and AJ does that creepy thing where he’s acting too old for his age, because he smiles and says: “I really want to be your family, too, but Clem tells me that it takes time to become family, so we’re staying as long as you let us.”

“You’ve got dirt on your nose,” Violet comments as she sheds her coat. She throws it in the corner where his own coat has been lying for a few hours now.

“How do you know?” he asks, his back towards her as his fingers dig deep into the earth. She walks past behind him and flicks her fingers at the back of his head. “ow,” he mutters as she gets down to her knees beside him.

“Don’t be a baby,” she says, before digging out some dandelions. Very pretty color of yellow, but still a weed. “I hazarded a guess based on your habit of losing yourself in the things you’re doing and not noticing your personal hygiene,” she says off-handedly. “And look, I was right.”

His hand flies up to his nose and sure enough, there’s crusted dirt there. “Boo,” he tells her. “You’re no fun.”

She hmm’s and they dig in the dirt in silence for a while. Louis looks at the pile of greens next to him on the tiles. It’s growing bigger and bigger and they probably won’t be able to feed it all to rabbits, mostly because they haven’t caught any yet. And also because it’s a lot.

“How’s the rabbit home coming along?” he asks, because that’s what Violet was supposed to be doing. This morning, just after Marlon and Clementine left Brody told both him and Violet -and AJ- to stop sulking next to the gate and go to the greenhouse and to help Mitch with the rabbit pen, respectively.

“Mitch kept bitching at me,” she shrugs, the movement of her shoulders a blur in the corner of his eyes. “So in the end Willy stayed to help him hold and fetch things and I came to help you. How’s your shadow?”

Louis doesn’t look at the corner of the greenhouse where he knows AJ is sitting, cross legged, ever alert to both Louis and the exit. “Don’t think he’s ever been apart from Clem before,” he says. “The last and only time they’ve told me about was when bad people kept him away from her.” He looks over at Violet and shrugs helplessly. “Must feel like the only certain thing in his life just up and disappeared. He’s got us, but he’s only had us for like three days. That’s gotta be hard.”

He doesn’t talk about how AJ doesn’t let him out of his sight and how the kid followed him when he went out to take a piss.

“Kinda like how your best friend is out there with a girl you’ve only known for three days and you know for a fact that she’s dangerous and won’t hesitate to put him down if she thought it necessary,” Violet remarks and he freezes.

That’s… that hit a bit too close to home.

Listen, Clem is great, and AJ is great, but Marlon has been his best friend -his brother- for forever. Since before the world went to shit. Marlon shared everything with him -shared his candies on Louis’s first day, shared the reason he was there and then shared his stuffed animal when Louis cried telling his own reason. Marlon shared his home when Louis’s parents didn’t want him during the holidays. Marlon shared his parents when Louis never really had those. Marlon shared his secrets and his fears and shed bitter tears into Louis’s shoulder about not being able to control his anger.

Louis has always tried to repay him, but all he had to share were his jokes, his smiles, his hugs and his money.

No, his parents didn’t want to see him, but he still got a big allowance every month. It hadn’t been enough because how do you repay someone for giving you a home and a family?

So, he trusts Clementine and he thinks she’s badass but Marlon is his brother and the only thing he’s always had to cling to so if something happened to him…

Well he’d say he’d kill her for it, but he doesn’t think he’s able to. Partially because Clementine would kick his ass, but mostly because he doesn’t think he has it in him to kill humans.

If something happened to Marlon Louis would be devastated.

“She won’t,” he just says, because Violet knows most of this. Maybe not the details, maybe not how deep it really goes, but she knows about Louis going home with Marlon for the holidays, knows about him calling Marlon’s parents ‘mom’ and ‘dad’. She knows how he depends on Marlon, how he loves him. “If not for anything else, then because AJ is here.” The boy doesn’t move at his name, but Louis is pretty sure he can hear everything they’re saying. “She talked him down before when he was actually delusional, so if he gets angry again she’ll be smart enough to either talk to him or knock some sense into him. She’ll be smart enough to not actually kill him.”

He hopes.

“Let’s hope so,” Violet says. “Let’s hope the raiders don’t make her a prettier offer and that when she comes back, she takes AJ and blows some more heads out to get herself a home there.”

Silence falls and Louis pretends there are no tears in his eyes as he digs out some grass polls.

“She won’t, you know,” AJ pipes up. When Louis looks up, the kid is still staring at the door, his hands playing with a knife, twisting and twirling it until it’s just a silver blur. “She hates those kinds of people. Groups of people who band together to hurt others,” he clarifies. “She likes you because you all like each other. Because you’re all a family.” AJ looks at him. “She’s the only family I’ve ever had, but she’s had lots of families -big ones, and they’re all dead. She’ll protect you, like she protects me, because she wants to be your family too.”

Louis doesn’t really know what to say to that and AJ does that creepy thing where he’s acting too old for his age, because he smiles and says: “I really want to be your family, too, but Clem tells me that it takes time to become family, so we’re staying as long as you let us.”

“We would love to have you as our family, AJ,” Violet speaks up for him because he still doesn’t know what to say. “You and Clementine both.”

AJ nods, seemingly content with this, and returns his gaze to the door.

Anyway, he and Violet continue pulling roots and the first plot is almost weed-free.

The greenhouse is a big rectangle of soil with paving tiles around the edge and also a vertical and a horizontal line that separates the dirt into four smaller rectangles. One weed-free, three more to go.

Violet gets up, hands on her knees to push herself up and she pushes his shoulder. “C’mon, you played in the dirt enough for today. Marlon and Clem will be back soon.”

The sun is high in the sky as the three of them walk out of the greenhouse -Violet first, Louis close behind and AJ right by his side, one hand fisting Louis’s coat and the other hand gripping his silver shiny knife.

The kid’s face is grim and determined, as if he’s planning to defend the entire school from any and all threats all by himself.

“Hey, kid, wanna play a game?” Louis proposes. AJ looks up at him questioningly, but he doesn’t say anything. “Violet won’t play it with me anymore because she always loses,” Louis winks and AJ giggles. Violet groans ahead of them and turns around.

 “That’s a lie, Louis,” she says. “I stopped playing because it’s a chance game and it has nothing to do with skill,” she grins at him. “I prefer beating you when it has to do with how good I am at something and how bad you are.”

Louis rolls his eyes at her and then wiggles his eyebrows at AJ. “Whaddaya say, little man?” he asks. “Wanna learn to play?” AJ contemplates this and glances at the gates. “Can we play outside?” he asks, and Louis nods. “Sure thing! Let me get the stuff we need and you pick out a nice spot, yeah?”

 

\-------------------------------

A few minutes and a thorough search of his room later he turns up outside with five dice and a small piece of cardboard. AJ is sitting at one of the tables close to the gate, his back to the school and his gaze on where his mother is to reappear any minute now.

He puts the cardboard and the six dice on the table and AJ looks at it. “Why did you draw a ship on this?” he asks, picking up one of the dice to inspect it. Louis grins at the kid and takes a seat on the other side of the table.

“See the six squares around the ship?” he points. The top three squares all have a figure of one side of the dice on them: one has a six, one a five, and one a four. “You have to throw all the dice and you need to throw a six for this square. That’s the boat. Then, you need a five for this square, that’s the captain. The third one is a four for the crew, and then you get to pick the last three dice for cargo. The cargo makes up your points. You get to throw five times, and you need a boat first, a captain second and a crew third,” he explains. AJ nods.

“You go first?” he says, and Louis scoops up the dice. “Watch and learn, little dude.”

He throws. Three fours, a two, and two ones.

No sixes, dammit. He scoops up the dice again.

“Shit,” he says. Four fives, a three and a one. Still no sixes.

“No sixes,” AJ confirms and Louis grumbles as he grabs the dice again.

Score. Two sixes, a five, a four, a two and a one. He grabs a six, a five and a four and places them on the squares, and then the last six and puts it in the cargo. “Two more throws,” he says and he grabs the last two dice.

A six and a five. Hell yes. He places them in the cargo and then grabs a pencil and a little notebook.

He makes two columns, LOUIS and AJ. Underneath “Louis” goes the number 17.

“Think you got it?” Louis asks, and AJ nods with a grin. “Yeah.” He’ll lose, probably -highest possible score is 18 and Louis got very lucky, but the kid doesn’t seem to mind as he grabs the dice.

A six and a five and then a bunch of other things. AJ carefully places the two dice in their respective squares and grabs the other four dice.

No fours. A six and two fives and a three, which is a decent throw but not what the kid needs.

On his third throw he gets a four and a five. The first he places in the four square and the five he puts in the cargo.

Fourth throw. A six and a two. Six goes in the cargo, the two is swooped up again.

Last throw and the two becomes a five, making AJ’s score sixteen.

“Let’s do who has the most points after three games,” Louis suggests and AJ shoves the dice at him.

Three sixes, a four, a three and a two. The six goes in its square and the other dice get thrown again.

Second throw. Nothing.

Score. A five.

A four, two sixes and a five. Another seventeen added to his score, making the pretty number he writes down 34.

AJ throws and the bastard gets a six, a five and a four in one fucking throw. The kid giggles as he places the dice on their square and throws again.

Two throws later and a six and a five sit in the cargo, and on the last throw another five joins them. Louis writes down a neat 31 for AJ’s score.

“Last round,” he says as he throws.

This time he scores only nine -a six, a two and a one- making his final score 43. AJ looks determined as he throws, staring as if that would make the dice land the way he wants them to.

AJ has a six and two fives in his cargo and so ends up winning with a total score of 47.

“Nice!” Louis exclaims, holding his hand out for a high-five. AJ stares at it for a few seconds before he rises up, leans across the table and hits Louis’s hand with his own, leaving a sharp sting.

“I like this game,” AJ says, staring at the dice. “Can we teach Clem?” The boy looks up at him and it should be impossible to have eyes that big, honestly.

“Sure thing, Aaj,” Louis says. “You can play this with as many people as you want.” AJ nods and smiles. “I’m gonna draw with Tenn until Clem comes back,” he says, and Louis nods and watches the kid walk towards Tenn, who’s sitting at another table.

Louis cleans up the game and then goes to find Brody.

She’s sitting in the graveyard, Rosie’s head on her lap as she stares at the crosses they made for Sophie and Minnie.

Louis plants himself next to her and scratches Rosie’s butt. The dog rumbles in satisfaction and looks at him for a few seconds until she puts her head back on her paws.

“I wonder if they’re still alive,” Brody says quietly. Louis looks at the crosses.

“Maybe,” he says. “Maybe not. The bigger question is, if they’re still alive, who are they now? Are they still part of us, Ericson’s troubled kids? Are they part of the raiders, ready to tear us apart or kidnap us and make us do whatever? Are they still the same twins we still knew?”

He sighs and notices the choked sob in Brody’s throat. “I’m sure they’re fine,” he reassures her. “They’re tough, and maybe they’re part of the raiders _now_ , but that’s only to survive.” He rubs Rosie’s belly. “As soon as we get them out of there and back to Tenn I’m sure they’ll be our family again.”

Brody scootches closer, which upsets Rosie, but as soon as the girl sits still next to him with her head on his shoulder, Rosie lies down over both their legs with her head back in Brody’s lap.

Louis slings an arm around his friend and leans his head against hers.

“I hope you’re right,” Brody says. Louis grabs her hand and squeezes it. “I’m always right,” he promises.

They sit like that, listening to birds and Rosie and the sounds of the other kids in the distance, until Willy yells “they’re back!” and they both look at each other, get up, and rush to the gates.

 

\-------------------------------------

Marlon is bleeding.

His brother is bleeding and has his arm slung around Clementine’s small shoulders and her much shorter frame is supporting him as they stumble through the gates.

Louis darts forward to take Marlon from her and she falls to her knees in exhaustion as Marlon leans all his weight on Louis, his right arm pressed to his side.

“It’s Lilly,” Clementine breathes out, her eyes darting around and then they find Louis. Amber golden eyes stare into his soul and she looks scared.

It terrifies him. He hasn’t known her for long but he thought she wasn’t afraid of anything.

“Lilly?” he asks, but as soon as the name leaves his mouth he remembers what she told him. Lilly, whose father was murdered by Lee and Kenny -two of Clem’s father figures- before he could turn. Lilly, who shot Carley. Lilly, who Lee left on the side of the road.

“Shit,” he says, and Brody looks at him.

AJ pipes up from Clem’s side. “Swear,” but the kid is staring at Clem as if he doesn’t understand why she’s on the ground, why she sounds so scared.

“Did she recognise you?” Clementine nods. “Only reason we got out alive, I think. Shit,” she swears, and Louis searches around for Ruby.

“Ruby!” he calls. “Can you take Marlon?” The redhead nods and supports the blond as she leads him inside, muttering encouraging things. “AJ, can you do something for me?” The kid is still attached to Clementine, but he looks up at least. “Everyone is going to be busy helping Marlon. Can you stand watch to make sure Clem and Marlon weren’t followed?”

AJ looks torn but as soon as Clem tells him to go in a strained voice, he goes, climbing up the wall and staring at the trees.

Louis grabs Clementine’s arm and pulls her from the ground, almost dragging her inside.

She’s breaking down and she doesn’t want to do it in front of AJ. “Aasim, go up with AJ. Take your bow,” Brody calls as she follows them inside. Rosie trails after them as Louis takes them upstairs to the headmaster’s office.

He plants Clementine on the couch there and kneels down in front of her. She’s bent forward, elbows on her knees and her breathing is too quick.

Brody is standing behind him and Rosie jumps up on the couch to lie down next to Clementine. “Clem,” he says, grabbing her hands away from her face. She looks at him, eyes wide, pupils big and he should be panicking too, about Marlon, about her, about everything, should be running away or goofing off, but there are people out there who stole the twins and Marlon let them and then Marlon cut him off from the greenhouse and Clem came along to remind them all of Marlon’s mom and it’s time he grew up.

At least a little bit, just so he can be the responsible one when others can’t. Brody needs him -she has trouble keeping a clear head in stressful situations: hereditary anxiety issues is why she got sent here in the first place and he can’t force her out of her comfort zone that way, so if he can help he’s gotta goddamn have to because Marlon can’t do it anymore.

Why the fuck anyone ever trusted Marlon in crises situations anyway he doesn’t get, but he did it also and it doesn’t do well to dwell on the past so he squeezes Clementine’s hands and tells her to breathe with him.

He breathes, and Brody counts for them from behind him with a soft voice -counts for them as he’s counted for her in the past, will count for her in the future- and Clem breathes with him.

After a certain amount of time -he really doesn’t know how much- Clem drops his gaze and sighs. “Thank you, Louis,” she says in a low voice. He smiles at her. “Thank Brody, she taught me.” Clementine lets out a laugh that’s more a sigh and looks up at Brody. “Thank you, Brody,” she dutifully repeats.

Brody laughs and sits down on the floor, next to Louis. “Can’t tell you how many times he’s helped me like that,” she confesses. “Ever since we were little and I came to Ericsons. I had a panic attack my first day and he was there. He called for the teachers and watched as they helped me, and afterward he came to me to ask how he could help next time. I taught him the breathing and the counting and he’s always been there ever since.” Brody smiles and so does Clementine. “So much, in fact, that after a few months the other kids would go get Louis instead of a teacher when something happened,” Brody leans against him and he drops down to sit down next to her, his knees hurting from the floor.

“You’re welcome, Brodes,” he says, nudging her with his shoulder. Clem is absentmindedly petting Rosie and he remembers the scar on her arm that she showed them.

“You sure you’re okay with Rosie?” he asks, and Clem looks confused for a second before nodding. “Yes. She’s sweet.”

And then Louis takes the backseat and Brody takes over, asking Clementine what happened.

They met the man from the train station -sans an arm, and Louis remembers what she told him about Lee and how cutting off the arm hadn’t helped him. He attacked them out of nowhere and Clem got a gun to her head just as she was going to kill him -or interrogate.

The owner of the gun was a woman who recognised her, and Clementine and Lilly talked for a bit before Lilly demanded all the children from the school.

All of them.

Because the Delta is fighting a war, and they need soldiers. Fucking hell.

Anyway both Marlon and Clem told the two to go to hell and barely escaped as they got shot at again. Marlon got hit but they got out anyway, but not before Lilly had yelled that if they wouldn’t give them the kids, she would take them.

“So, they’re coming,” Brody says, something final in her voice. Clementine nods. “This place is a fortress, we can keep them out. If we do that and kill enough of them, we won’t be worth the hassle and they’ll leave,” Clementine explains.

It’s a solid plan, except… “Won’t they go somewhere else and steal other people, then?” Louis asks. Both girls look at him with pity, and Clem slowly nods.

“Yes, but the world is too fucked up to try and stop bad from happening,” she says, regret in her voice. “All I can do -all we can do is try and stop bad things from happening to our own people. Taking down Lilly’s people would cost lives, and we shouldn’t risk our people’s lives for people who might as well attack us if they met us,” Clementine explains. “Sometimes you meet people who don’t want to fight you, but most of the time people just want to kill you and take your stuff.”

Yeah, she’s got years of experience with that. Louis pulls her into a hug and she buries her head into the crook of his neck. “Nobody will fuck with you anymore,” he swears, “we’ve got you now, you’re one of us. Both you and AJ.”

Clementine pulls back and nods. “Thank you, Louis,” she whispers, and he smiles at her. Then he looks at Brody, who’s grinning at the both of them.

“Let’s teach these fuckers that they don’t mess with the Ericson kids,” she says, and Louis nods. “Hell yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah the greenhouse is different because i say it is lmao. I wrote it this way before episode 2 came out so i just rearranged some things.  
> Stole the dice game from life is strange 2, episode 2. Never heard of it before but I thought it was cute. And yes, I did actually roll dice for this. 
> 
> Next chapter will be hella long (like twice or three times as long as this one, probably) so it'll probably take a while before i got that. 
> 
> Episode two is gonna be the most different from canon because marlon and brody are still there and clem & aj didn't get kicked out, but we're back on track now.  
> Episode three is gonna be followed pretty closely and I've got so many plans. Honestly can't wait for episode 4 tbh. 
> 
> hope you enjoyed :D
> 
> ps i just realised it'll be a while before the next chapter gets uploaded but i'm aiming for this weekend. STill I got a question for those of you reading this.   
>  I have an original work that I love very much but I don't know where I can post this, since ao3 isn't really a website for orignal works? I've tried Wattpad but I don't really like the site, so my question is do any of you know of any websites where I could post my original work and maybe gain some readers?  
>  :)

**Author's Note:**

> I need more friends who know Clem and AJ and Louis (that is to say any friend at all lmao) so if you want hit me up on discord. Ironteeth, #9029 (cuz that's how it works right? lmao)


End file.
